Saturday, May 28, 2011

Girl Meets God



Stephanie here. I love this book - Girl Meets God by Lauren F. Winner

I read it a couple years ago, and I'm getting itchy to read it again. It's one of those that has a quiet power to it. It's not like every page was sending off light bulbs in my head, but it's stuck with me. Like comfort food, you know?

Lauren was a devout Jew - incredibly devout - and became a Christian after Jesus appeared to her in a dream. Her memoir is honest, intelligent, and thought-provoking. I highly recommend it.

One of the things that has stuck with me most is a story she tells about lent. Her pastor approached her and said he felt she should give up books for lent. Lauren read constantly, and the idea seemed ludicrous to her. Books?

The idea seemed weird to me too as I read her story. I went to a Catholic high school, and my friends always gave up soda or chocolate. Sometimes they'd joke about giving up sex. (None of us were having any, despite what they say about trashy Catholic school girls.) Giving up books seemed weird to me. I mean, books are good for you. At first, it seems akin to give up vegetables.

Lauren decided to follow her pastor's advice and gave up books for lent. She talks about the quiet of her apartment. About the extra time to just ... think. To just be.

Be still and know that I am God, the psalmist writes. When was the last time you were still before God? The last time you went to your room and just sat there. Not because you didn't have anything else you could be doing or should be doing or would like to be doing, but because you wanted to carve out time to just be with God. To be mindful of Him.

I'm not a big reader of nonfiction, but I adored Girl Meets God. If you get a chance to read it, drop me a line.

Stephanie Morrill is a twenty-something living in Overland Park, Kansas with her husband and two kids. Her only talents are reading, writing, and drinking coffee, so career options were somewhat limited. Fortunately, she discovered a passion for young adult novels a few years ago and has been writing them ever since. Stephanie is the author of The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series and is currently working on other young adult projects. She enjoys encouraging and teaching teen writers and does so on her blog www.GoTeenWriters.com. To connect with Stephanie and read samples of her books, check out www.StephanieMorrillBooks.com.

5 comments:

Jessica Medrzycki said...

This book sounds so good, I just placed a hold on it in the library. Thanks so much for the honest review...I love this blog!

John Draper said...

Rachel,

Found you through a Google search on “Christian” and “girl" and "guilt”

Anyway, my daughter just graduated summa cum laude from a Christian college and she's totally burned out on religion. All it has done is make her miserable. She's a perfectionist, so to her, God is a harsh, unloving taskmaster. She thinks in black and white terms: either she’s PERFECT or she’s LAZY



Anyway, she has started a blog, to try to grapple will some of her thoughts. The tagline for her blog is "Looking for truth after graduating from Christian college with a degree in Bible-theology."



Here's the link to her blog. It would be great if you could become a Follower and just give her the benefit of your perspective - whether or not that perspective is religion-friendly. Just as long as it's YOUR perspective.



Lastly, please don't let on that I told you about her blog. I mean, don’t lie if she asks you, but don’t offer that info unless you have to



Here's the URL, again:



http://searchingfornorth.blogspot.com/



Please cc this email to other women you know who know who have dealt with perfectionism.

Thanks



P.S. – I’m sure I sound like a meddling, manipulative parent. Maybe I am. But I don’t really care what you say to my daughter. Your answers don’t have to be Politically Correct in terms of Evangelicalism. For me, I’m always suspicious of Easy Answers. You can tell her to just ditch the whole Christianity thing. That’s fine with me. Just so she knows someone is listening. Other than me.



-- john

Nicole @Project Inspired said...

Wonderful review! I will definitely put this on my "to-read" list!

Have you read "Heaven is Real?" One of my FB friends recommended it to me and I LOVED it! http://www.projectinspired.com/an-inspiring-book-about-heaven-you-have-to-read/

Stephanie Morrill said...

Nicole, I haven't read Heaven is for Real yet, but I've heard wonderful things.

Stephanie Morrill said...

Sierra, I'm so jealous of how much you get to read! I could easily read that much :)